


You're the Best Idea I Never Had

by misura



Category: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Genre: F/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-13 00:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12971268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Mason Weaver joins Monarch and (almost) doesn't regret it.





	You're the Best Idea I Never Had

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hiddencait](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/gifts).



The non-disclosure, 'really bad things will happen to you if you talk about anything we show you' agreement alone is two dozen pages thick - small-lettered and double-sided. It makes Mason wonder if this is really the smart choice, the thing she wants to spend the next few years of her life doing.

At least most human wars end. This one, if you can call it a war, she's less sure about.

Conrad's hovering over his own set of papers, pen in hand. His gaze meets hers; he grins wryly.

"I'm waiting for you to tell me that this is a bad idea," Mason says.

"This isn't a bad idea," Conrad says. "This is a disastrously, phenomenally bad idea. You sign these papers, and for the next few years, none of the pictures you take will ever be published in any newspaper. Your career as a photo-journalist will be over. It's not worth it."

Nothing she hasn't already considered. "What about you?"

Conrad shrugs. "The money's good."

Mason rolls her eyes. "Really? That's what you're going with?"

"The company might be good," he amends. "Not - I don't mean Monarch, the company. You're going to sign, aren't you?"

"Hey," Mason says, "even if these pictures don't get made public for a hundred years, when they do, they're still going to be mine. My pictures. I want that."

"Immortality?" Conrad smirks. "Ambitious."

"So should I count to three or something, and then we'll both sign and demand they let us out of here right now, or was there some other way you wanted to do this?"

"Ah," Conrad says. "I already signed the papers ten minutes ago."

 

The first thing she does is demand her camera back. Next, her film.

Third, she takes a long, hot shower. It feels like a luxury, a rare indulgence, which is about right, she supposes. You want to be successful as an anti-war photo-journalist, you'd better be ready to get down and dirty.

She's not sure what it takes to be successful as a 'real monsters that roam the earth' photo-journalist. Any Pullitzer she might win is probably going to be awared post-humously - but then again, that's not what this is about, exactly. It's part of it, sure.

Conrad might be part of it, too. It's nice to know there's going to be someone around who knows what he's doing, most of the time, someone who also knows when _not_ to shoot. Someone who understands that some of the monsters out there aren't.

That sometimes, it's the humans who are the monsters.

 

And sometimes, of course, it isn't.

Conrad's pressed as close to her as is humanly possible. Under other, less life-threatening circumstances she might find it distracting, even exciting. Fun, maybe.

"Are you all right?" Her camera's still with her.

"I'm okay," Conrad says. "Still think this wasn't a bad idea?"

There's too much adrenaline in her system. She needs to calm her breathing, get ready to make sensible decisions about when to run, when to grab a gun and shoot at something.

"You're here, I'm here, and we're both alive," Mason says. "Isn't that about as good as it gets?"

Conrad grins. She wishes she'd had her camera ready, to capture that grin, this moment. Man laughing in the face of danger. "Call me demanding, but I'd have preferred better circumstances."

She's not sure why her mind flashes to picturing him without his shirt on. Adrenaline, probably.

"Picky," Mason says. "But hey, you're doing this for the money, remember?"

"The company," Conrad corrects. "Now, do you have any flash grenades left? Please say yes."

She's tempted to tease him about the fact that he hasn't. "Yes."

Conrad smiles. "Then, will you do the honors, or shall I?"

 

The third time he takes her out for drinks and a night on the town, Mason realizes that he's not going to make a move - or, at least, that if Conrad's going to make a move on her, it's not going to be via plying her with alcohol.

Continuing to have her back in dangerous situations may be part of the plan, only she thinks it more likely that it's part of _Conrad_. He's good at saving people who need saving and can be saved, and not that bad at letting go of people who don't want to, or can't.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Conrad asks, putting down several drinks.

Mason doesn't know how he finds these kinds of places. Maybe it's an SAS thing. "Talk about what?"

Conrad shrugs. "Whatever it is you want to talk about."

"You do realize that makes your first question sound kind of stupid, right?"

Conrad shrugs again. "A guess, then. Professional dissatisfaction?"

There's a copy of Time magazine on the table in front of her. "I miss taking pictures that matter. Pictures that made a difference to what people thought and felt."

Conrad grabs one of the bottles. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm still working on it," Mason says. "Ideas?"

"You could quit," Conrad says. "It's not too late."

"I'm not much of a quitter."

"So I'd noticed." Conrad leans back, eyes closed. "I also noticed you're not an idiot, so you know as well as I do that saying you're not a quitter has little to no bearing on the question of whether or not you should continue to work for an entity that's convinced mankind as a whole cannot handle several fundamental truths about the world it lives in."

 

Mason thinks about it. Not too much, and not too often. The kind of life she's leading, often as not, there's more important and urgent things to think about than whether or not the public has an inherent and inalienable right to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"Another day, another near-death experience." Conrad has his arm around her. She feels the heat of his body, hears the way his breath hitches just a little. "It's getting to be a habit."

"Not a good one," Mason says. She wishes, just once, that they'd end up in this kind of situation without one or more creatures intent on killing, maiming and/or eating them alive nearby.

"No. Not a good one," Conrad agrees. "How are you on ammo?"

"I'm clean out."

Conrad wriggles around a bit. "Here. Don't worry, I've got plenty left."

"Who said I was worried?" Mason asks.

"You looked a bit terrified there for a few moments," Conrad says. "It was quite a blow to my male pride."

"Trick of the light." Mason wonders if he wants to run his hands all over her body the way she does, whenever they're safe again, to reassure himself that she's all right, and alive, and there.

"I should have known it was something like that."

"You really should have," Mason says. "I mean, what were you thinking? Me? Scared?"

Conrad flashes her a smile. "Well, then. My sincerest apologies. Shall we?"

 

She finds him in his hotel room, after. He hasn't been expecting her, Mason thinks - or anyone.

"Weaver. Something wrong?" She sees him mentally go down a list of 'things that might be wrong' and cross-reference it with a list of 'things Mason Weaver cannot handle by herself', and come up short.

"We're alive," she says.

Conrad relaxes a bit. "And this bothers you for some reason?"

"I just - " _I just want you to take off the rest of your clothes and kiss me and never stop._

_Well, okay, I'm probably going to want you to stop_ some _time, because there's way too many things I still need to do, but I also really want to spend some of my life finding out what it feels like to be near you when our lives aren't in imminent danger._

"Oh." Conrad swallows. "That's - you could have - no."

"No?" Mason blinks. "Okay, now I'm embarrassed. Can we pretend this never happened, please?"

Conrad winces. "I'm handling this poorly. It's definitely yes. I just - I considered pointing out that you might have said something sooner, then realized it was a bad idea."

"Wow. There's something you're actually bad at? I'm shocked."

Conrad narrows his eyes. "I'm not bad at ... sex. A bit out of practice, perhaps, but hardly bad."

"Good news, then." Mason grins.


End file.
